Orthodox, conservative, or reformed, klezmer's back and marching

If there's a commonality in all these developments, it's that klezmer is still an ecstatically happy Jewish marching music with a sad, almost funereal edge. It's Goth wedding music, both a kind of crazy dance tune and a mournful dirge, doubting itself even as it asserts itself. This very contradiction is what allows for so many interpretations. As for whether klezmer will live on or become just another tour-bus stop, well, as David Krakauer says, "the history books will tell." But then again, as the Murrys say, "We couldn't give a shit about the history books." Ironically enough, it's this spirit of debate that will most likely keep klezmer alive for many Passovers to come.